Singer-songwriter Norah Jones isn’t losing any sleep over unauthorized footage ofer her performing that has ended up on sites like YouTube.

“I think it’s fine,” said Jones. “I’ve done a ton of gigs over the past year with these three different bands in New York; just in bars, playing guitar, playing guitar solos, when I really shouldn’t be.”"One time I found a clip of us on YouTube and, it was like, ‘Aargh! Oh my God! Don’t they know this is a fun gig for us and not to be broadcast on the internet?’ added Jones. “Then I watched the clip and we sounded pretty good, so I was happy about it.”

“It’s definitely a fun vortex you can get lost in. The old clips on there are amazing.”

via NEWS

It looks like billionaire Mark Cuban isn’t content to just trash the Google-YouTube deal via his blog. According to Business Week, Cuban wants a part of the money that Google has set aside to deal with YouTube copyright violation lawsuits.

Verbally bashing YouTube is apparently not enough for billionaire “blog maverick” Mark Cuban. Now the Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur is reportedly considering acquiring the independent news agency that’s suing the video-sharing site for copyright violations. The brash move, if it goes through, would undoubtedly escalate Cuban’s war of words with Google (GOOG), which closed its $1.65 billion stock purchase of YouTube Nov. 13. In fact, it could force Cuban to put his money where his outspoken mouth has been.

Before Google announced it would purchase YouTube, Cuban publicly criticized the company and anyone else thinking of buying it. “Would Google be crazy to buy YouTube? No doubt about it. Moronic would be an understatement of a lifetime,” he wrote in an Oct. 7 blog post. After Google announced it would buy the site, Cuban penned another post titled “I still think Google is crazy.”

Cuban posted details of the YouTube lawsuit at his blog.

via Cuban Talks Trash to YouTube

Google is covering its assets in the YouTube buyout by setting aside nearly a quarter of a billion dollars as a cushion to cover losses or legal bills resulting from copyright violations at YouTube.

Google disclosed the escrow account in an announcement noting the completion of its YouTube acquisition. Without elaborating, Google said it is withholding 12.5 percent of the stock owed to YouTube for one year “to secure certain indemnification obligations.”

The percentage of stock being held in escrow translates into about 457,000 Google shares, worth about $224 million after the company’s stock price rose $8.27 Tuesday to close at $489.30 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Germany’s mainstream music industry is demanding that YouTube pay it royalties or delete all videos with non-licensed music.

GEMA says it is currently holding talks with YouTube about possible arrangements. It is the first major music industry association that is trying to settle copyright claims with YouTube.

YouTube recently announced plans to deploy technology to help screen videos that included mainstream music industry tracks.

via OUT-LAW.COM

YouTube has quietly purged over 30,000 videos after receiving complaints of copyright infringement.

Nearly 30,000 clips of TV shows, movies and music videos were taken down after the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers cited copyright infringement.

Now the site is removing hundreds of clips from Comedy Central, including clips from “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and “South Park.”

The company, recently acquired by Google, plans to remove infringing content and replace it with ad-supported content from the major music labels and mainstream television and film studios.

via: Podcasting News